Prime Minister: Well, I don’t think it would be fair for me to tell President Nixon what he should do. This is for him to judge, keeping very many aspects in view. Now, you see, to say whether there would be a change in American policy as I said, I think that the President is trying to find a way. But the whole thing has got so entangled that it isn't easy for anybody to find a way.
Question: Madame Gandhi, why does India not agree to the proposal of Yahya Khan for the withdrawal of both India and Pakistani troops from the frontier?
Prime Minister: I have just touched on this point in my earlier remarks. When the refugees first started coming into India, we drew the attention of the United Nations to this fact. And at that time we were told that this was an internal problem and nothing could be done, even though we had said that the repercussions would be far-reaching. After that, it was Pakistan who brought its troops right up on our western border. It was not India who moved then. The attention of the United Nations observers there was drawn to it, and they, questioned this. And they were told by the Pakistanis that they were merely-what is the world? -training or doing exercises, military exercises.
Obviously, this was not a very convincing reply. But, presumably, it was accepted as the truth. But we couldn’t accept it as the truth. And we waited a week or so until we were convinced that our security might be in danger. You may all of you remember that we have had three aggressions on our soil, one from China and two from Pakistan. And also our lines communication with all these border areas are not too good. It was my duty as head of the government to see that we should not be found once again unprepared. And that is why we moved our troops up also.
By speaking about withdrawal of troops, it is again a question of diverting the world focus from the problem of East Bengal, which is the main problem. Even if troops are withdrawn-we don’t really trust this-the question is of how far they are withdrawn. There also the question of the irregular troops. In 1965 conflict, we had the experience of thousands of infiltrators being led into Kashmir in an effort to weaken the country from inside, hoping that this would give support to the later aggression by the Pakistani Army. That didn't happen, because although the infiltrators came in, our people-we don't have any army there-the ordinary people, the farmers, the nomadic tribes who look after their goats and their cattle, these people stood up to the infiltrators and helped us to control the situation.
So, there isn’t only one type of confrontation. And in this particular situation. the major question is what is happening in East Bengal. And I don’t think you can separate what is happening on the west from this basic question.
Question: A pair of questions, Madame Gandhi. Is India willing to accept the good offices of the U.N. Secretary-General for defusing the dangerous India-Pakistan tension? Also, even thought India is not to blame, why can’t you allow U.N. observers in your area if it would bring peace South Asia?
Prime Minister: To take the second question first. I would say that we do have United Nations observers. There are some on the western front for many years, and there
